US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

[Nevermore]

I have a feeling if Vectis is not the secret program, then the secret program will be some kind of large B-2 sized ISR drone similar to what China is doing.

At this point I don't see any avenue of Aviation tech where China is behind. In most cases, whatever China comes up with, US will be a slow follower with higher cost, lower quality/capability, less ability to mass produce.

China has surpassed the US in Ground Force tech, Air defense tech, rocket force tech, Air force tech. The only remaining area where US is still ahead is naval tech due to Carriers and submarines.

China's aviation engines still have a long way to go.

 

[gelgoog]

The US is ahead in jet engines, reusable space launch vehicles, bombers, military transport aircraft, nuclear submarines, supercarriers, VTOL aircraft, combat medicine, AI semiconductors.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Also, if this UAV had been revealed before August this year, then it'd be a wow factor.

But doing that after 9-3? Meh.

Moreover, China's high-tier UADFs are already flying (at least not publicly). Why are the American ones still in CGI format like the F-47?

My guess is that 9-3 prompted them to show their cards. It is a way to drum up interests for investors.

 

[SlothmanAllen]

Its important to remember that Kratos flew their Thanatos UCAV last year at some point. We don't have much information on it, but it looks to be in a similar class to Vectis going on the Thanatos renderings. Lockheed likely has another unmanned program under development (for which they have taken large losses for).

Outside of that, you have the other CCA from General Atomics and Anduril on top of the MQ-25 and RQ-180. So the US has a robust set of modern unmanned aerial vehicles in service, shortly entering service or in development.

 

[valysre]

Outside of that, you have the other CCA from General Atomics and Anduril on top of the MQ-25 and RQ-180. So the US has a robust set of modern unmanned aerial vehicles in service, shortly entering service or in development.

I would challenge the usage of 'modern'. The US approach towards CCA seems very limited, at least compared to the two UADFs we saw during the 9/3 parade. All US CCAs seen so far don't seem like they share (Vectis we know does not) the same flight envelopes as the aircraft they're meant to be flying with (unless F-47 and FA-XX are subsonic designs). This seems strange to me and makes me question how well the US has thought through the whole idea of CCA to begin with.

 

[gelgoog]

I expect these combat drones to act like those on the Homeworld RTS but they are nowhere near that.

 

[pipaster]

3200 Boeing machinists are on strike in St. Louis, which started on 4 August.

Boeing has hired temporary workers to backfill in the interim.

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[mack8]

I would challenge the usage of 'modern'. The US approach towards CCA seems very limited, at least compared to the two UADFs we saw during the 9/3 parade. All US CCAs seen so far don't seem like they share (Vectis we know does not) the same flight envelopes as the aircraft they're meant to be flying with (unless F-47 and FA-XX are subsonic designs). This seems strange to me and makes me question how well the US has thought through the whole idea of CCA to begin with.

As the saying goes, don't interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake. They seem to be obsessed with price but this being America whatever price they aim for it will likely end up doubling.

So far the only thing the US higher tier CCA have is the flat nozzles, so this should be an objective for China on future UADF variants imo.

Otherwise like i said previously, in the upcoming battle of the robots the faster, more agile, better armed, better equipped, less visible one wins. China has so far a head start with the UADFs (with perhaps a bit more work to do on the LO nozzles), and they have to press on to keep and widen that advantage.

 

[siegecrossbow]

As the saying goes, don't interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake. They seem to be obsessed with price but this being America whatever price they aim for it will likely end up doubling.

So far the only thing the US higher tier CCA have is the flat nozzles, so this should be an objective for China on future UADF variants imo.

Otherwise like i said previously, in the upcoming battle of the robots the faster, more agile, better armed, better equipped, less visible one wins. China has so far a head start with the UADFs (with perhaps a bit more work to do on the LO nozzles), and they have to press on to keep and widen that advantage.

China didn’t go with 2D TVC because it is not yet mature. Once they test fly it enough on J-50/XDS it is pretty straightforward to port them over.

 

[vincent]

What I don't understand is why are they not moving to turn the F-16 and F-15's they have into loyal wingman? They might be old, but that doesn't really matter for a unmanned aircraft because it doesn't need to fly regularly. In theory, you would just need a handful aircraft for testing and training with manned aircraft. The rest of the fleet can be kept in a flying state so their airframes will not suffer any further wear and tear. On top of that, they have upgraded a lot of the components in these aircraft (AESA radars, EW systems, etc) so despite their airframe age they have very high-end features. Given the versatility of both platforms and the number of weapons they support, you would basically be getting the most capably loyal wingman you can envision for a fraction of the cost.

How many F-16s and F-15s were upgraded with GaAs AESA radars? How many got GaN radars?